".... we have in Obama a President who is what we used to call a moderate Republican "

[Better Believe It]

Obama vs. Obama
By Michael Brenner
Senior Fellow, the Center for Transatlantic Relations
February 12, 2010

The enigma that is Barack Obama grows day by day. Contradiction after contradiction, abrupt gear shifts, perpetual motion that never reaches a destination. 'Obscene' Wall Street bonuses suddenly transmute into well earned rewards for a good guy golfing buddy; the imperative to act boldly on the jobs crisis means placing it the callous hands of Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley of health care fame; the plotting of exit strategies from Afghanistan by 2011 becomes a 'long as we have to' occupation. All these contrapuntal reversals against a sound track of non-stop exhortation and a restless shuttling from one photo-op to another. Who is this guy, anyway?

A few elements of Obama's personality are now evident: a strong narcissistic streak, an ingrained sense of superiority, a nimbleness - intellectual and political - enabled by the incredible lightness of his conviction about anything, an audacious ambition yet no gumption for a fight. Behind these traits, there is something even more basic discernible. Obama is two people, one superimposed on the other. The visible, surface man is the epitome of an enlightened, Ivy League, socially responsible liberal. This is Obama the community organizer (albeit an exceptionally non-confrontational one), Obama the African American political activist who attends Jeremiah Wright's cosmopolitan church, Obama the orator who routinely hits the high 'Cs' of the call to conscience, Obama the optimist who appeals to, and for the better angels of our idealistic American selves. This is Obama the African-American who moved enough voters to be elected President of the United States.

To this portrait, we must juxtapose the other Barack Obama - the Barack Obama who has surfaced as he quickly shed his 'liberal' skin amidst the trappings of the White House. This other personality, I contend, is the underlying one - truer to the man's core nature. This is the Obama who twice in his young career sought out positions in big corporate law firms; this is the Obama who was raised by three Kansans who instilled in him conservative heartland values; this is the Obama who relishes wealth and what it can buy; this is the Obama who feels more at ease with his Wall Street buddies (Jaime Dimon, et al) playing golf than with anyone of the Move On American crowd; this is the Obama who chose as his trusted confidant that unscrupulous, liberals-be-damned fixer - Rahm Emanuel; this is the Obama who absorbed the spirit of Ronald Reagan's America he himself has said stands as the model of inspirational leadership.

Far-fetched? Let's take a clear eyed look at what President Obama actually has done and said. He placed his supposedly signature health care reform initiative in the hands of those dedicated to thwarting it, he has curried favor with the criminally incompetent financial establishment, he orphaned the proposal to help underwater homeowners through the bankruptcy courts, he stiffed the trade unions on the loosening of rules for organizing workers, he has retained all of Bush's policies on surveillance, he has refused the slightest chastisement of the CIA and their mercenaries, he has retained Bush's practice of Executive statements interpreting legislation, he has followed a behind closed doors style of policy-making, he has followed the Pentagon hawks in escalating the war in Afghanistan, he has made repeated advances toward the evangelical right. This is the behavioral pattern of a deeply conservative personality and conventional thinker who tips his hat to every establishment he encounters.

The unhappy conclusion is that we have in Obama a President who is what we used to call a moderate Republican before the species became extinct. Moreover, someone who is very much a man of his times - those times being the 1980s and 1990s. That means suspicions of government programs (last week Obama declared that New Deal thinking wasn't applicable to day's problems), a strong belief that we should always give private interests the benefit of the doubt, an assumption that the rich deserve their riches, and an insensitivity to the plight of salaried Americans (Obama's push for a Bipartisan Commission to recommend budget cutting measures to be voted 'up or down' by Congress clearly had Social Security in its sights). Abroad, Obama is ready to deploy military might in dubious causes defined by the country's hawkish defense establishment.

Please read the full article at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-brenner/obama-vs-obama_b_460354.html

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Excellent Piece, But I Respectfully Disagree

Nixon and Eisenhower were well to the left of Obama. For example, under Eisenhower, top tax rate on earned income was 91% - and both houses of Congress were controlled by Republicans.

Obama is not a moderate Republican - he's just a garden-variety Republican, following lockstep in Herbert Hoover's policies.

[jmowreader]

34. Right now "garden variety" Republicans are the new moderates

Pat Robertson's (successful) efforts to put evangelicals into the highest positions in government, which we KNEW about in 1992, have so distorted the political spectrum it's unbelievable. Forty years ago Barry Goldwater was Mr. Conservative and guys like Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond were considered so far to the right you couldn't talk about them because no one would have believed anyone could be that much of a wingnut. In 2010 Jesse Helms would be a mainstream conservative, Barry Goldwater would be a Blue Dog Democrat and the most successful modern-era Democrats would have been liberal Republicans then.

If liberals were liberals and conservatism was still fiscal, Obama would be about where Taft was.

[Cherchez la Femme]

40. Right you are

[tavalon]

2. Damn it all to hell

That was too accurate and too painful.

[OHdem10]

3. It and I emphasize If the writer is correct and Obama has decided

the New Deal is not applicable to these times, put your pennies
in a jar and hide it under your mattress. Repeating the GOP
practices is simply digging the hole deeper. If you think
we have been through some bad times--prepare for these
to be a constant. We will have chosen the way of Zimbabwe.


Hope springs eternal, that he will see the light.

[heli]

4. If Obama hasn't seen the light by now, it's because he has chosen to ignore it

Obama is among the most intelligent people ever elected to the Oval Office.

Very disappointing, indeed.

[amandabeech]

35. He is intelligent, but his mind is not very creative or flexible.

I went to a top tier law school, and I saw a lot of this first hand. I also saw a lot of sucking up, which the writer of the piece sees as an Obama trait as well.

LSAT points and GPA do not a leader make, necessarily.

[truedelphi]

10. In exchange for Obama bringing all the Dems he could find

Aboard the vote in for the BailOuts, back in late 2008, The Powers that Be offered McCain Sarah Palin. And encouraged McCain to have her as his running mate.

In that manner, Obama got his quid pro quo. The average Republicans disdain for Palin forced them to vote for Obama. And many of them did so willingly - he was running as an astute Progressive, with his pulse on the matters that many Repugs were most troubled over - the very Bank Giveaways that behind the scenes Obama had helped engineer.

The decisions and agreements that Obama made at that point in time were huge conscessions away from what we the average people need and for what the Powers that Be demand.

These decisions were:

1) no oppositition against Paulson or Bernanke

2) appointing Rahm Emmanuel
3) Appointing Geithner for the Treasury

4) appointing Valsick for department of Agriculture, and Mike Taylor for FDA.
Both are Monsanto clones.

[Prof Lester]

45. Yes.

Now you are thinking like a political man, sir. More of us must do the same. Too many of us live in a mental Disneyland. That will be the end of us. We must bring our minds back to the reality of the thing in itself rather than TV BS and Disneyland hooey.

We are in the fight of our lives FOR our lives. We must not blow it.

[truedelphi]

51. Unfortunately the Disney land inhabitants are probably happier.

Atleast politically speaking.

And one small note for you - I am not a political man, due to the nature of my fairer (or unfairer, as my spouse might say) sex.

[truedelphi]

52. Oh and welcome to DU. n/t

[Kablooie]

5. Whoa. This sounds right on. God what a disappointment. In 2012 any alternatives?

[MannyGoldstein]

6. The Good Dr. Dean, Of Course nt

[CANDO]

12. Calling Dr. Dean!

The problem with the Democratic Party is that it isn't for the little guy any more. We keep believing and hoping that it is, but somehow we keep getting fakes and frauds. I am really fed up with it all. Obama is acting/doing exactly what I feared H. Clinton would do, which is why I went with him in the first place.

[Vincardog]

17. Bingo Obama is acting/doing exactly what I feared H. Clinton would do,

[JVS]

27. yup

[Kurovski]

13. I'd like that.

K&R

[jmowreader]

32. No. Dean is a good man but he would never win election in a national office

Dean won't sell to Middle America, and I really doubt he'd win the South. We CAN NOT win the White House if all we can take is the Eastern Seaboard down to New Jersey, plus California and Hawaii. (If you can take the coasts you can write off Middle America. By this I mean Washington, Oregon and California in the West, plus every state from Florida to Maine. Do that and you can forget about anything in the interior because you're already over 270--I've done the numbers. But Dean won't get Virginia, South Carolina or Georgia, he probably won't get North Carolina or Florida and he may not get New Hampshire. In the heartland he MIGHT get Illinois but that would be a stretch. I know he wouldn't get either Tennessee or Kentucky, and they've both got Democratic governors.)

If you're going to run ANYONE else against Obama (which I think is a stupid idea--"moderate Republican" is less Republican than one of the people who call themselves that now--Brian Schweitzer of Montana is your only choice. The Republicans have nothing to use against him. They can't say a lifelong hunter will take away your guns. They can't say a man who's cut taxes in Montana is going to raise them in the rest of America. They can't say a man who submits balanced budgets is going to spend money foolishly. They can't say a successful businessman knows nothing about the private sector. They can't say a faithful Catholic man is a pro-abortion baby killer. He's faithful to his (attractive, well-spoken, intelligent) wife so far as we know. And he's from Montana so the "eastern elitist" label goes out the window too. On the strategic level Schweitzer would be excellent--once he's in office he'll do good things. But on a tactical level--getting him to Washington in the first place--he's perfect.

[MannyGoldstein]

33. They Used To Say That About Reagan

He was sort of a running gag for years.

Then he was President.

Sometimes people are just ahead of their time, but times change.

[jmowreader]

39. I still don't think Howard Dean is the right man to be president

Let's put it this way about Reagan: the Ayatollah Khomeini put Ronnie in the White House. I think the American people were just totally fucking pissed about the economic malaise (caused in large part by the Arab oil embargo), the 55mph speed limit, the hostage crisis and just the general mood of the country. If things would have been going okay in America in 1980, Carter would have been a two-term president; Reagan was behind in the polls most of the campaign--because he REMAINED sort of a running gag.

Howard Dean is one of those guys who takes some getting used to. Right now he's 62--there's not a lot of time for the populace to come to like him. Schweitzer? Very personable guy. Relatively few people have heard of him but almost everyone who has likes him. He's your old-fashioned hand-shaking, baby-kissing politician...and at the same time he's a politician you'd let within kissing range of your baby.

[MannyGoldstein]

41. Do You Think People Are Any Less Pissed Now?

We're pretty pissed - heck, for the first time ever, a nutcase Republican running as a nutcase Republican won a statewide election here in Mass! (Romney ran to the left of Kennedy(!) before showing his true colors after the election.)

I sense that people are tired of Republicans, and tired of BS. Dean offers an antidote for both.

[Kablooie]

53. Unless he puts corporate greed first he'll lose. SCOTUS insured that.

[bvar22]

7. Painful.

I now understand why I'm having such a hard time with Obama.
I'm STILL a "New Deal"/"Great Society" Democrat:

"In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.--FDR

As far as I'm concerned, the above values still apply.
If they are no longer operative in today's "New Democratic Party",
then neither am I.


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[Better Believe It]

8. One of President Obama's favorite CEO's is a union buster

What Does the Prez Stand for? You Are Going to Be Shocked When You Learn the Name of Obama's Favorite CEO
By Kevin Connor
February 13, 2010

During his now-infamous Oval Office interview with Bloomberg, Obama named FedEx CEO Frederick Smith as one of his favorite business executives. Smith is an unlikely choice to say the least. He raised more than $100,000 for the McCain campaign and was co-chair of his finance committee. He is also “fiendishly anti-union,” in the words of Doug Henwood; he has been engaged in a long-running battle with the labor movement over allowing the company’s workers to unionize. Unions were key allies of Obama during his presidential campaign.

.... the president is exceedingly anxious to be liked by the rich and powerful and to “preserve good relations” within his class, at almost any cost. As a result, it is next to impossible to discern what he stands for.

This was, of course, signaled by the Obama campaign, with its ubiquitous placards of Change, Hope, and Yes We Can -- that swirl of promise, with no firm pledge. To reveal any core principles that cohered with that messaging would, perhaps, offend the sensibilities some potential monied allies. Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, has observed that the campaign's marketing strategy captured the hearts of voters with the images and words of past progressive movements, but that it was, in fact, devoid of any core principles or demands. In crafting an ad campaign as cool as Nike's, Obama had similarly appealed to emotion without communicating anything of substance.

If Obama actually owned the labor-friendly agenda that is attributed to him -- rather than merely acting the part -- he would have found it hard to speak so highly of Mr. Smith. This year, FedEx fought labor reform and EFCA with the most expensive lobbying effort in its history by far, spending $17 million -- almost double its 2008 total, and five times its 2006 total. FedEx's business model is premised on extremely low labor costs, which it maintains by classifying its employees as independent contractors. Labor costs account for nearly two-thirds of unionized rival UPS's operating expenses, as opposed to just over a third for FedEx.


http://www.alternet.org/news/145664/what_does_the_prez_stand_for_you_are_going_to_be_shocked_when_you_learn_the_name_of_obama%27s_favorite_ceo_

[scentopine]

9. Obama is the best republican president we could hope for -nt

[Greyhound]

15. Do you think he'll be better than Bill? n/t

[Better Believe It]

16. It's too early to say in my opinion. But so far he's on a course to do worse than Clinton.

[scentopine]

19. Starting this year, he'll be held responsible for failure, Bush is ..,

past his half-life in the minds of the electorate. Emanuel is gambling that good-will alone will help Obama's democrats coast through 2010. I'm not so sure.

Obama's limp and passive response to the catastrophe of Wall Street fraud and corruption as every bit as bad as Bush's non-response to Katrina.

The entire country is drowning in Wall Street's sewage. Bernie, you're doing a heck of a job.

[amandabeech]

37. Actually, I might prefer Eisenhower or Ford.

At least you knew where they came from.

[indepat]

11. Are we to gather that this administration has failed to prosecute the former

administration's most egregious crimes and has rather ratified most of their highly flawed, fiscally irresponsible, or blatently illegal policies and actions? If so, just great. :P

[freddie mertz]

14. Each day that passes, my initial suspicion that Obama is a very conservative person...

More and more prescient.

I first caught whiff of it with the infamous "reagan" interview in Nevada.

Now the smell is becoming overpowering.

[Prof Lester]

46. Conservative?

No, the word "conservative" has been Orwellized utterly. A conservative used to be a person who respected the rule of law. Now of course that means nothing. The executive branch has gutted the sacred Constitution at the behest of corporatists.. banksters.. Synarchists.. neo-Feudalists.. and they've done so because the media, concentrated in the hands of a few corporatists, makes it virtually impossible for anyone outside the loop to reach enough of the national audience to be considered adequate for rule. Break up the media. Break up the big corporations. Restore the republic.

But it won't be done because most of the people are in a trance.. brainwashed by TV.. (that flickering tube is a hypnotic device and they know it)..

A conservative government would immediately have restored the sacred Constitution.. voided all the neo-nazi laws violating the Constitution.. and restored objectivity and justice to the judicial system. That has not been done. On the contrary, the government has continued all of the Hitlerian laws brought in by the previous gang of corporatist, Synarchist gangsters. Why? Ask yourself why.

There's no shame in being a real conservative. Decent folks and trade unionists, workers, farmers -- real people -- are naturally conservative.. they want a society of good laws which protect all of us. We have much more need of real conservative ideas.. respect for law.. than the billionaires do.. because we have more to lose. They have money to burn. We only have our lives and the lives of our children. Law is bedrock for ordinary folks. This government has betrayed us in that respect.

But it's the system. Can't blame Bam.. the minute he stuck his head up (if he ever wished to) they'd blow it off! Then they'd say "that (n word) was up to somethin'! We had to stop 'im! Y'all."

Just sayin'. :dilemma:

[bigtree]

18. 'used to'

'Moderate republicans', as defined by the cretins who are actually practicing, organizing, obstructionist conservatives disagree with the president on the bulk of his initiatives and actions and are actively working to undermine the bulk of his agenda.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

20. Kabuki Theater. nt

[ProSense]

21. Planned Parenthood

on the "moderate Republican's" budget.


My thoughts here and here.

[MadHound]

22. A damning, and true indictment

He is another moderate 'Pug in the mold of Clinton. This is what happens when both parties are controlled by the same corporate master. All you get is one that plays good cop, the other who plays bad cop. Meanwhile we the people get screwed no matter who is in office.

[Wilms]

23. k&r n/t

[johnaries]

24. What Rovian bullshit.

"a strong narcissistic streak, an ingrained sense of superiority,"
WTF?

"a nimbleness - intellectual and political - enabled by the incredible lightness of his conviction about anything, an audacious ambition yet no gumption for a fight."
He has ALWAYS - dating back to when he was president of the Harvard Law Review - tried to bring opposing parties to the table. His conviction is trying to get the government to operate the way the way the Founders envisioned.

I could go on and on, but the spin is making me dizzy and the smell of BS is making me nauseous.

[ProSense]

25. "a strong narcissistic streak, an ingrained sense of superiority," That's actually

assholery.

Reminds me of the crap Larry Johnson writes.

[Goldstein1984]

26. I think more and more people are seeing exactly this picture

This paragraph from the article sums it up for me:

"He placed his supposedly signature health care reform initiative in the hands of those dedicated to thwarting it...

he has curried favor with the criminally incompetent financial establishment...

he orphaned the proposal to help underwater homeowners through the bankruptcy courts...

he stiffed the trade unions on the loosening of rules for organizing workers...

he has retained all of Bush's policies on surveillance...

he has refused the slightest chastisement of the CIA and their mercenaries...

he has retained Bush's practice of Executive statements interpreting legislation...

he has followed a behind closed doors style of policy-making...

he has followed the Pentagon hawks in escalating the war in Afghanistan...

he has made repeated advances toward the evangelical right."

And yes, that is the stink of BS. It's an ill wind that blows from Washington, D.C. these days, whether from the Senate or the White House.

The lesser of two evils is still an evil.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

28. Obama has always been center-right but

all the psycho-babble in this article is just that: psycho-babble.

[Better Believe It]

29. Can you refute the points made in the article?

I'm listening.

[QC]

30. Don't hold your breath. n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

43. Fail.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

42. A good example:

A few elements of Obama's personality are now evident: a strong narcissistic streak, an ingrained sense of superiority, a nimbleness - intellectual and political - enabled by the incredible lightness of his conviction about anything, an audacious ambition yet no gumption for a fight.

A strong narcissistic streak? Not that I've ever seen. Granted, it takes a large ego to run for prez but that is neither of these:

-1. inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.
-2. Psychoanalysis. erotic gratification derived from admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, being a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development.
In actuality, at least publicly, he's fairly modest and self-effacing. It may be true in his personal dealings but that requires evidence. Feel free to give an example.

An ingrained sense of superiority? Again, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Also, this claim is potentially unknowable. Feel free to give me an example.

Enabled by the incredible lightness of his conviction? There's actually pretty good evidence to support this claim.

An audacious ambition yet no gumption for a fight? The dem primary completely destroys this allegation.


Again. Psycho-babble.

[Better Believe It]

48. Once again. Can you refute any of the major documented points made in the article?

"He placed his supposedly signature health care reform initiative in the hands of those dedicated to thwarting it...

he has curried favor with the criminally incompetent financial establishment...

he orphaned the proposal to help underwater homeowners through the bankruptcy courts...

he stiffed the trade unions on the loosening of rules for organizing workers...

he has retained all of Bush's policies on surveillance...

he has refused the slightest chastisement of the CIA and their mercenaries...

he has retained Bush's practice of Executive statements interpreting legislation...

he has followed a behind closed doors style of policy-making...

he has followed the Pentagon hawks in escalating the war in Afghanistan...

he has made repeated advances toward the evangelical right."

---------------------------------------

Which of the above can you refute? Any of them?

I'm listening.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

54. You're not listening very well, though.

The entirety of my first post: Obama has always been center-right but all the psycho-babble in this article is just that: psycho-babble.

My point wasn't to refute the documented policy stances Obama has taken. Now listen, my point was that the authors psychological take on Obama is psycho-babble, which is unnecessary because it only undermines the other points in the article he's trying to make. I stand by that opinion.

[Wilms]

49. The "ingrained sense of superiority" comment is over the top.

You'll see it disappear when we get our asses kicked out of Afghanistnam.

[begin_within]

31. I wish Obama would read that article.

[mix]

36. k r

[DCBob]

38. Obama has always been a moderate.. I dont see his actions as "abrupt gear shifts" or "contradictions...

Obama is trying to govern a country that is almost ungovernable and he has to react to unexpected issues and roadblocks. We are in the crisis of a century and the President has to juggle a mountain of issues all at the same time. Give the guy a break.. I think he is doing a great job considering the monumental mess he was left to deal with.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

44. Obama is a centrist, status quo, professional politician. He knows the system and works it.

He is doing what he and his advisers think will get him re-elected. "Change" was, and is, an empty slogan.

[LWolf]

47. As I've been pointing out

since he declared his candidacy in the '08 primaries.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

50. He might be a moderate Republican in terms of social issues, but on all

else, he is in lockstep with the Shrub Team.